Leslie Street: Street Names

George Leslie owned Toronto Nurseries

Starting at Lake Ontario at the foot of the Leslie St. Spit and stretching north into York Region, Leslie St. is named for George Leslie who owned a plant nursery on what is now Queen St. E. In the 1850s, the village of Leslieville grew up around the Toronto Nurseries owned by Leslie and his sons, and by 1870 Leslie's enterprise had grown to become the largest business of its kind in Canada.